KUALA LUMPUR: National water skier Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah is on track to make history after reaching the finals of the jump and slalom category at the World Under-21 Championships in Boca Laguna, Mexico, on Friday.
The 19-year-old, who is based in the United States where she attends the Florida Southern College, kept her cool as she leapt to a distance of 44.60m.
The jump was just shy off her personal best of 47.20m, but it was good enough to finish third.
Chile's Agustina Varas came first with a distance of 47.20m while American Kennedy Hansen was second with 44.80m.
Additionally, the multiple Sea Games gold medallist also made a surprise entry into the final of the slalom event.
Aaliyah finished on a 3.5/55kmh/12m attempt to be placed joint 12th alongside Argentina's Violeta Mociulsky and Australia's Lara Butlin.
But she came back and pipped the pair to the 12th and final spot for the final after managing 4/55/12, equalling her personal best, in the tiebreaker.
Mociulsky and Butlin both fell short after managing 3.5/55/12 and 2.5/55/12 in the tiebreak, respectively.
It was certainly an impressive feat as Aaliyah is only ranked 25th in the world Under-21 rankings for slalom.
The strong showing in jump and slalom mean Aaliyah has a shot of finishing not only on the jump podium but also in the overall podium at a world meet for the first time.
Her surprising performances in jump and slalom certainly made up for the disappointment she suffered in her pet event, tricks.
She scored 3,480 points and finished 18th after a fall in her first trick to miss out on the final.
"I'm definitely pleased to reach the final of the jump event and even more so for the slalom event," said Aaliyah.
"It was a huge disappointment for me to miss out on tricks, but I'll have to seriously review my training strategy for the three events that I'm doing.
"I believe I still have a chance for medals in jump and overall, and I'll give it my best shot in the finals."
Both the finals were held late on Saturday.
